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For the late actor Jerry Orbach, Law & Order's
Detective Lennie Briscoe was a presence never too far from him.

"Lennie is sort of an alter ego," Orbach said.

"Over the years I've played many characters, several gangsters
and several cops, but Lennie, by fact of his longevity, is the
other side of me. We're very close. My feelings, my outlook on
life, is infused into him."

Until his death in December, Orbach was synonymous with Briscoe,
the tough New York cop whose heart and purpose were always
pure.

He spent 12 years in the Law & Order franchise and
his final task was to launch its third spin-off, Trial by
Jury. (The series was recently cancelled by NBC.)

Unlike its forebears, Trial by Jury examines the
preparation and hearing of criminal charges. It opens with a
witness statement and then tracks the casework and defence through
the trial process and jury deliberation.

The series stars Bebe Neuwirth (Frasier), Kirk Acevedo
(Oz) and Fred Thompson (Law & Order). Orbach
was part of the starting line-up, but appears only in the first two
episodes, filmed before he died.

I met Orbach at the quintessentially New York Applejack Diner,
near Broadway.

His role on Trial by Jury was a significant change of
gear for the veteran actor, a retirement gift of a sort (working
one day a week) from producer Dick Wolf.

The pair first met when Wolf was working on Miami Vice. Many
years later, when Wolf invited Orbach to join Law &
Order, he asked him to recreate the New York cop he had played
in Sidney Lumet's Prince of the City in 1981.

It seems curious that Orbach became best known as a TV cop, and
for saying "nobody puts Baby in a corner" in the 1981 film
Dirty Dancing.

In fact, his greatest career achievements were in New York stage
productions of Chicago, 42nd Street, Promises, Promises
and The Fantasticks.

With more than 60 films and 40 TV show credits to his name,
Orbach worked for producers whose decisions were "sometimes not
right".

Orbach's best advice? Never lose your head. "I'm not one to go
storming off in a rage and say it's my way or the highway," he
said. "In any good work, it's an exchange."

Law & Order: Trial by Jury premieres tonight at 9.30pm
on Channel Ten.